Humans as negotiating tool in international politics should be discouraged

The ongoing confrontation between Poland and Belarus, stirred the hornets’ nest last week when the Polish government alleged that its Belarusian counterpart deliberately manufactured a migrant crisis to retaliate against the European Union’s economic and political sanctions in an attempt to coerce the EU to lifting sanctions. 

Over 3000 migrants had crossed overnight from Grodno, a Belarusian city bordering Lithuania, Latvia and Poland by the west.

Attempts by these migrants to make it directly in to Poland were stopped aggressively by the Polish authorities using its armed forces to detain them at the border and strengthen the barb wires at the border. 

While both countries continue to trade blame, the migrants comprising  men, women and children from Asia and Africa are left to their fate in the open under cold condition. So far nine migrants have been reported died as the Polish government blocked initial plan by humanitarian agencies to provide food and other items to them.

The action of government from these countries of allowing their ideological political differences to affect human lives is condemnable.

There is a need to review international treaties with more emphasis on preventing the use of humans as shields to negotiate in any international political fisticuffs. Global leaders, especially the world powers, should likewise demonstrate respectable examples by avoiding such practice. No citizen should suffer because of geopolitical differences between two or more countries.

Moshood Olajide, moshoododunayo [email protected]